How to hire a professional research assistant

How to hire a professional research assistant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step professional research assistant hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a professional research assistant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new professional research assistant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a professional research assistant do?

Post a professional research assistant job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your professional research assistant job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a professional research assistant for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a professional research assistant to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a professional research assistant that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of professional research assistants.

   Type of Professional Research Assistant	Description	Hourly rate
   Professional Research Assistant		$18-42
   Microbiologist	Microbiologists are responsible for studying the microscopic organisms causing infections and environmental damage, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Their work focuses on the identification and growth of these microbes to better understand their characteristics that may help in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious and bacterial diseases... Show more	$18-36
   Research Fellow	A research fellow is an academic researcher who conducts research and analysis of comprehensive literature, data, and results and provides literature reviews. He/She supervises research assistants and recruits study participants to interview them for a particular study... Show more	$18-34

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Research Projects
   • Data Collection
   • Patients
   • Cell Culture
   • Professional Research
   • PI
   • RNA
   • Data Analysis
   • Clinical Trials
   • Pathogens
   • Patient Care
   • CRISPR
   • Informed Consent
   • PowerPoint

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage database of consent patients encompassing patient demographics and samples collect ensuring HIPAA standards are adhere to.
   • Perform extraction of rodent RNA and hybridization onto gene expression arrays.
   • Analyze RNA and protein samples.
   • Experience working with CRISPR technology.
   • Provide technical support for an immunology lab course.
   • Perform PBMC isolation, HbA1C assays, glucose analysis and DNA extraction on whole blood samples.

   More professional research assistant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your professional research assistant job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A professional research assistant salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a professional research assistant in Vermont may be lower than in New Jersey, and an entry-level professional research assistant usually earns less than a senior-level professional research assistant. Additionally, a professional research assistant with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average professional research assistant salary

   $58,202yearly

   $27.98 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level professional research assistant salary

   $38,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 24, 2026

   Average professional research assistant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$69,687	$34
   2	North Carolina	$68,376	$33
   3	Illinois	$67,192	$32
   4	California	$64,672	$31
   5	Minnesota	$63,099	$30
   6	Ohio	$62,277	$30
   7	New York	$61,930	$30
   8	Georgia	$61,442	$30
   9	Arkansas	$61,109	$29
   10	Arizona	$60,419	$29
   11	Virginia	$58,084	$28
   12	Alaska	$57,972	$28
   13	Wisconsin	$56,862	$27
   14	Colorado	$54,033	$26

   Average professional research assistant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Siemens	$108,233	$52.04	25
   2	Stanford Health Care	$96,357	$46.33	7
   3	Argonne National Laboratory	$92,451	$44.45	15
   4	General Motors	$86,329	$41.50	23
   5	HP	$86,280	$41.48	10
   6	UC Santa Barbara	$80,576	$38.74
   7	Stanford University	$74,024	$35.59	174
   8	University of California	$73,277	$35.23	183
   9	CoreLogic	$73,061	$35.13	3
   10	University of California-Berkeley	$69,029	$33.19
   11	UC Merced	$67,299	$32.36
   12	Nationwide	$65,709	$31.59	4
   13	AHRC Nassau	$64,814	$31.16	148
   14	The University of Chicago	$64,606	$31.06	115
   15	National Mentor Holdings Inc.	$63,583	$30.57
   16	Pediatric Partners, now a member of the Sevita family	$62,332	$29.97	708
   17	The Ohio State University	$61,413	$29.53	2
   18	University of Colorado Boulder	$61,256	$29.45	18
   19	Kaiser Permanente	$60,639	$29.15	74
   20	University of North Carolina	$60,352	$29.02	131

4. Writing a professional research assistant job description

   A job description for a professional research assistant role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a professional research assistant job description:

   Professional research assistant job description example

   Professional Research Assistant (PRA) Classification : Full time/Hourly Salary Range: $22.00 to $29.00
   Based on qualifications and experience Reports to: Principal Investigator in the Division of Infectious Disease, and the investigator’s collaborators.
   Job Summary: Located principally at the Rocky Mountain Regional Denver VAMC campus in Aurora, with some time potentially spent at the VA Community Based Outpatient Clinics in Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Our primary interest is in multicenter randomized controlled trials investigating treatments and vaccinations for SARS-CoV-2, with potential involvement with other protocols within the Infectious Disease Division. Duties and Responsibilities may include some, but are not limited to the following: · Perform study related activities: recruit, consent, and enroll study participants; scheduling; track patient participation; administer patient interviews and preparing assessments, interview human subjects participating in studies.
   · Perform study related clinical tasks such as vital signs, phlebotomy, vaccination, collection of specimens such as oropharyngeal, nasopharyngeal or nasal mid-turbinate swabs. Coordinate diagnostic and non-diagnostic procedures.
   · Monitor in-hospital study medication administration. Collaborate with inpatient Medicine and Specialty teams, as well as nursing staff for monitoring of study patients.
   · Collaborate with investigational pharmacy staff and clinical pharmacy staff to ensure protocol adherence with study medication administration.
   · Perform research lab activities: transport, handling and processing of infectious biospecimens, centrifuge and aliquot specimens. Monitor lab equipment to ensure protocol-dictated lab environment requirements are met.
   · Organization and tracking of a large biorepository, including distribution of collection kits, logging of samples and distributions of samples. IATA compliant shipping of biospecimens.
   · Meticulously adhere to all Infection Control and Biosafety guidelines when working with study patients, handling and processing samples, and working within the research clinical setting. Operate safely in a BSL-2 environment.
   · Monitor protocol adherence in all study activities and report any deviations
   · Diagnose and solve system/software problems, install applications software as related to research needs, provide computational research support, construction and population of databases, ad-hoc programming, as needed
   · Abstract data from patient charts, tabulate research data, and validate quality of data elements/data editing.
   · Collaboration with PI; diagnose and problem solve as it relates to the research project.
   · Complete regulatory reports for a multi-center trial.
   · Data entry into various electronic case reporting programs.
   
   Other Duties as required.
   
   Competencies include but are not limited to:
   · Detail oriented
   · Self-motivated
   · Superior time management skills
   · Organizational skills
   · Excellent customer service skills
   · Excellent written and verbal communication skills
   · Coaching and influencing skills.
   · Ability to problem solve, manage multiple tasks and work independently with minimal supervision
   · Ability to work in PPE that may include, but is not limited to: surgical mask, N-95 mask, PAPR (powered air- purifying respirator) or CAPR (controlled air-purifying respirator), face shield, protective gown or lab coat, and gloves.
   
   Required Education and Experience:
   
   BA or BS in health related fields or equivalent. Computer skills are critical, including proficiency in Microsoft Word/Outlook/Teams/Excel/Powerpoint. Must be able to work with minimal supervision Must be able to work on several projects simultaneously Must have excellent written and verbal communication skills Must be patient and persistent Must be willing and able to acquire new skills as needed · Must be able to work well in a high stress, rapid paced, team environment
   
   Preferred:
   
   · Prior experience with biospecimens in a lab environment. Prior experience in areas of IT, data entry, management, and data analysis. Experience working with veterans and non-veterans in a health care setting. Work Environment:
   
   This job operates in a hospital-based, medical clinic-based, research lab and office-based environment. This role routinely uses medical, lab and standard office equipment.
   
   Physical Demands:
   
   The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
   
   While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, use hands and fingers to handle or feel objects, tools or controls. Reach with hands and arms, climb stairs, talk or hear. The employee must occasionally lift or move office products and supplies up to 20 pounds.
   
   Travel:
   
   Possible travel to community based outpatient clinics.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find professional research assistants for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any professional research assistants they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level professional research assistants with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your professional research assistant job on Zippia to find and recruit professional research assistant candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with professional research assistant candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new professional research assistant

   Once you've found the professional research assistant candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new professional research assistant. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a professional research assistant?